1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing different shaped bakery products, in particular, bakery products such as hamburger buns and hot dog buns.
2. Background Discussion
In the manufacture of bakery products such as hamburger buns and hot dog buns, dough packets of a spherical configuration are fed by a feeder known as a tray proofer to an exit station where rows of dough packets are deposited row by row into a feeder known as a sheeter. The sheeter deposits the dough packets row by row on a moving belt which extends over a molder table. Typically, the spherical dough packets are first flattened by passing then through the nip of a pair of rollers in the sheeter. The gap at the nip of the rollers may be adjusted depending on the type of bakery product being made. For example, if hot dog buns are being made, the distance between the sheeter rollers is greater than when hamburger buns are being made. The flattened dough packets fall off the molder table into bakery pans having rows of individual pockets into which the individual, dough packets are deposited row by row.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,035 discloses a bakery pan indexing apparatus for advancing bakery pans in a stepwise fashion past the point where the individual dough packets are deposited row by row into individual pockets of the advancing bakery pans. A rounder device forms the spherical dough packets which are then fed to the tray proofer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,562 discloses a rotary indexing machine which feeds rows of dough packets from the rounder device to the tray proofer using a roller with rows of receptacles spaced apart 120.degree.. The receptacles in this indexer roller are cupped or hemispherical in shape and are unsuited for carrying cylindrical shaped dough packets used in making hot dog buns.
When making hot dog buns, the spherical dough pockets from the sheeter are rolled up into a generally cylindrical configuration using a pressure board which is positioned above the molder table. As the flattened dough packets from the sheeter are advanced over the molder table by the moving belt, they are rolled up into a cylindrical configuration as they pass between a gap between the pressure board and the molder table. These cylindrical shaped dough packets are forwarded by the moving belt to a pan having an elongated pocket sized to receive the cylindrical shaped dough packets falling off the molder table.
A problem encountered in making both hamburger and hot dog buns is that individual packets in a row of the dough packets do not always stay in alignment as they move from the tray proofer to sheeter and across the molder table. This results in slow down of production and waste of materials. Moreover, the equipment currently employed does not easily lend itself to the manufacture of different types of bakery products. It would be desirable to provide one apparatus which by a simple modification or rearrangement of its components enable it to manufacture both hamburger buns and hot dog buns. It would also be desirable for such equipment to either avoid or compensate for the misalignment of the individual dough packets that some times occurs in the rows of dough packets. In current equipment, swinging or bomb-bay type door gates are frequently used to control the feeding of rows of dough packets between different operations of the manufacturing equipment. These doors are dangerous, since workers may be injured if they accidentally catch their fingers, hands or other part of their bodies in the doors as they close. Using such doors for controlling the feeding of the rows of dough packets also limits the speed of the manufacturing equipment.